good friday:when jesus walked that lonesome valley

Good Friday 2002 was when India’s maverick artist Francis Newton Souza passed away.A few months before he had come home for a Christmas meal and he told me:When I die ,I want you to sing the hymn : Jesus Walked that Lonesome valley ‘ and remember me.

This Good Friday so many years hence I want to remember this great artist who scoffed at religion and God,but after his passing away it is his Eucharist and Christ works that fetch millions at the auctions.It was God’s will that Souza should attain greatness for that which he mocked at.I think God has the last laugh.Coming back to the song,it is one that speaks of life,of the ultimate and inevitable loneliness of man as he walks his journey alone,carrying his cross and eking out his living with his deeds.

Jesus Walked This Lonesome Valley

Jesus walked this lonesome valley.

He had to walk it by Himself;

O, nobody else could walk it for Him,

He had to walk it by Himself.

We must walk this lonesome valley,

We have to walk it by ourselves;

O, nobody else can walk it for us,

Recommended By Colombia

We have to walk it by ourselves.

You must go and stand your trial,

You have to stand it by yourself,

O, nobody else can stand it for you,

You have to stand it by yourself.

Good Friday is about coming to terms with this understanding of our pathway in life-but looking back at this song that can tug at your heartstrings and make you introspect-if we have god with us we can never be lonely. Quietly painting a mosaic about the dignity of humankind, the perfidy of individual men and the longing for home when we meditate over its words,this song suggests a poised compassion for all the characters that God creates.

If we trust and live with His Commandments He will never leave us and Good Friday brings with it that message of redemption of the power of forgiveness and the beauty of the crown of thorns being more than just the metaphor of bleeding and suffering-it is also about giving to the world a life that must be karmic and elegiac so that it becomes like footprints on the sands of time.